If this means we can finally stop that one idiot who keeps insisting that dolphins are actually the smartest species on the planet because they have emotions when they talk, I'm all for pretending that something is dumber than a Daily Mail reader.

"...man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much-the wheel, New York, wars and so on-whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man-for precisely the same reasons."

I seriously doubt mealworms understand the concept of "fewer" and "many" somehow; and I also suspect that dolphins struggle to escape nets considerably harder than any goldfish ever attempted to escape from a bowl. But if it makes you feel better about drift-net fishing, go right ahead and believe that.

Not surprising. Humans love to anthropomorphize the fark out of animals. We see certain behaviors that seem to mimic some of our own and come to the conclusion they MUST be similar to humans. Dogs saving people, monkeys using tools, dolphins and language. But the truth is we don't even know who our own minds really work or why we feel and act certain ways. It is erroneous to attribute too much emotion or intelligence to any animal. We want dogs to feel just like humans because it makes us feel better if they do. That doesn't make it so. Were just projecting. Likewise with dolphins. As the most advanced species on earth, we're constantly looking for places where the advances we went through are happening elsewhere. Sometimes there is a sliver of truth to it. Most often not. In the majority of cases it's just projection and wishful thinking.

Once you understand that all animals are nothing but biological machines, with varying levels of complexity to their hardware and programming, the assumptions become a little more realistic.

FTA:Whereas goldfish placed in a bowl try to jump out to freedom, dolphins rarely try to escape when they are caught in nets.

So a goldfish leaping out of the water to certain death is smarter than a dolphin who realizes that, without manual dexterity to untangle nets or tools to cut them, his position is untenable and accepts it? gotcha.

taurusowner:Not surprising. Humans love to anthropomorphize the fark out of animals. We see certain behaviors that seem to mimic some of our own and come to the conclusion they MUST be similar to humans. Dogs saving people, monkeys using tools, dolphins and language. But the truth is we don't even know who our own minds really work or why we feel and act certain ways. It is erroneous to attribute too much emotion or intelligence to any animal. We want dogs to feel just like humans because it makes us feel better if they do. That doesn't make it so. Were just projecting. Likewise with dolphins. As the most advanced species on earth, we're constantly looking for places where the advances we went through are happening elsewhere. Sometimes there is a sliver of truth to it. Most often not. In the majority of cases it's just projection and wishful thinking.

Once you understand that all animals are nothing but biological machines, with varying levels of complexity to their hardware and programming, the assumptions become a little more realistic.

That which constitutes life is more than the sum of its parts. Where is your poetry, man! :D

Once you understand that all animals, including humans, are nothing but biological machines, with varying levels of complexity to their hardware and programming, the assumptions become a little more realistic.

ftfm, humans ain't special and it's very unlikely that any feels are unique to us. Animals differ in motivation and understanding but you can still make an animal sad, panicked, frightened, happy, angry, etc. Those are emotions and no amount of wishing we are "different" in some ephemeral way will void those emotions of meaning. You think your emotions are stirred by a guardian angel or something? You're just a bioputer too, my ninja. If a dolphin can be summed up as a string of stimulus responses, I assure you the same is true of us.

Once you understand that all animals, including humans, are nothing but biological machines, with varying levels of complexity to their hardware and programming, the assumptions become a little more realistic.

ftfm, humans ain't special and it's very unlikely that any feels are unique to us. Animals differ in motivation and understanding but you can still make an animal sad, panicked, frightened, happy, angry, etc. Those are emotions and no amount of wishing we are "different" in some ephemeral way will void those emotions of meaning. You think your emotions are stirred by a guardian angel or something? You're just a bioputer too, my ninja. If a dolphin can be summed up as a string of stimulus responses, I assure you the same is true of us.

the dolphin need to be id'd as stupidso we can start fishing themand/or start importing from where its already done

So who in the U.S. wants to eat sell dolphin meat, bad enough that they've been funding this scheme with actual money?

corrected sentence

dolphins are percieved as being smart, clever, cuteand public resistance would be very very highbutwith some artful articles sprinkled here and thereshifting the view to "dumber than goldfish"we establish a new product

Humans are smart. We build dams. So do beavers. We can distinguish between many and few. So can mealworms. Goldfish try to escape. The Jews obediently went to their doom. Humans shiat in small contained spaces. Bears shiat wherever the fark they want. The tropical bird of paradise does weird mating dances. Humans twerk.